Myanmar junta chief in Singapore for check-up

YANGON, Jan 1 (Reuters) Myanmar junta leader Senior General Than Shwe has flown to Singapore for a medical check-up in a rare trip outside the army-ruled country, a Yangon airport official said today.

Than Shwe, who turns 74 next month, was accompanied by his wife and two daughters on a Myanmar Airways flight to Singapore today, the official said.

''The Senior General looked OK. He walked onto the aircraft without any help,'' said the official, who asked not to be identified.

The state of Than Shwe's health is not known in the ultra-secretive country ruled by the military since 1962. But it has been a source of intense speculation in recent years.

In 2005, rumours that he was gravely ill and had been ousted from power triggered frenzied gold buying in Yangon. The regime later accused foreign media of issuing slanderous reports.

Than Shwe, who seized the junta leadership in 1992, made a number of inspection trips in the former Burma last month. But he shuns foreign travel.

His last official trip abroad was a state visit to India in 2004 where he was hounded by pro-democracy protesters demanding the release of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

REUTERS MS KN1634